Tuesday, November 7, 2017

The sceniic Ionian Coastline - except when there is rain and fog!

This whole day was to be a day to photograph the beautiful Ionian coastline. We were to stop frequently and take a ton of photos. But the forces were not with us and we had a ton of hard rain and fog instead. The views from the top were non-existent because of the fog. Migen got a little stressed driving through the rain an strong winds on all the sharp s curves driving through the mountains. We did manage to stop a few times - It didn't work for one of us to hold the umbrella for the other to take a photo - the winds were too strong and the rain was coming sideways. We did manage a few shots as we got lower.

Sheep on the road again - Way in the back, if you look closely, you can see the goats climbing on the rocks - expect more rocks on the road soon!

After that we needed a coffee! Migen said he had never seen the waves this high before. He took videos of it. We went into a cafe for coffee, however the electricity was out all over town because of the severe storm. So no coffee. Instead the owner, on finding out we were from America, offered us Rocki on the house. Not exactly what I wanted to drink at 11:00 am, but you can't refuse the hospitality.

He was quite a character. He has a brother living in New York and so travels there frequently. Migen thought he talked way too much - not the Albanian way. But we thought he was a hoot. He then brought us each a glass of wine filled to the brim - also on the house. It was still dark - so I got out my small flashlight so I could find the toilet. Came back to find the wine. Decided we needed to eat something with all the booze. He suggested Albanian donuts. I said "great". It turns out they are just like our Sopaipillas, also served with honey, but also feta cheese. We enjoyed them.

More views along the way. This area was an army base during the Communist era and is still used as such. If you look very closely you can see the largest bunker created during that era in the last picture.

Then on to our last stop of the day - the Ali Pasha Castle outside of Sarande. This was not a fun stop, as it was still pouring rain. I did use my plastic rain poncho and umbrella and so the top half of me stayed dry. It was also very dark inside the castle so I could not get any photos. These were taken on the top level from a guard house.